Pokemon: After Year Zero
by LTSKetsuban
Summary: In the adventures of Red, Blue, Brendan and May, they all venture out from home and along the way avert catastrophic events that could have ended the world. But what if they never existed? This story takes place 100 years after Pokémon Red/Blue and Pokémon Emerald, but without anyone around to stop any of the crime teams from enacting their plans.
1. Prologue

_Welcome to the world of Pokemon... it is not what it once was. Some one hundred years ago, all but two continents were laid barren by the release of Groudon and Kyogre, a battle which raged unimpeded for weeks until they were exhausted and collapsed into slumber. What is left, simply named the Continent and what you once named Kanto and Johto, is now primarily, as you would call it, private property, with small, isolated settlements making up the remaining free cities. The owners of Kanto and Johto, the former crime syndicate Team Rocket, are the most powerful organization in the world. They are rivalled only by the Pokemon Rangers, who hire themselves out to islanders and outsiders to protect them from Team Rocket, bandits and Pokemon. And thanks in large part to Team Rocket, all but a select few Pokemon are now mindlessly feral, attacking anything or anyone that comes into their territory. The open ocean is now treacherous and wild, with harsh waves and torrential downpours bearing down on ships while the native Pokemon tear them apart from both the sea and the skies._

_In fact, as you may recall, that is how _you _found your way here. Had I not intervened, you would have died along with your crew out in the great and vast waters beyond the coasts of the Continent. You will undoubtedly have numerous questions about my assistance, and indeed, as to my identity and as to how I know all of this so well. My identity will surprise you, I have no doubt of this. What I am unsure of is your intentions, so forgive me if I do not reveal myself immediately. When you awaken, you will find yourself in a damp cave. There will be light coming from a mysterious souce. Follow it, and you will find me. Do not attempt to leave; you will surely die without protection. I do not have much more time, as there are many other things I have to take care of, and I will tell you these things in much more detail at a later time._

_Until then... good-bye._

A male figure stirs in a dark, damp cave. It is sequestered from the seas by a small island, no larger than an average metropolis, and illuminated only by traces of sunlight to the right of the man and a small, shining pink orb hovering over him. He awakens, surprised as much to be alive as to his current location. His gaze shifts upward and finds the pink orb, then recoils as his eyes adjust to its brightness in relation to his surroundings. He begins to regain his bearings, before finally asking out loud the first question on his mind, to no one in particular:

"Where... am I?"

Just then, he began to remember the strange dream from before... a rather high pitched voice, telling him things about the past, and Year Zero. He knew of these events almost purely through legend and scattered texts, with so much of the historical documentation having been destroyed since then. He began to wonder how this entity knew of all of these things so clearly, as if it had lived through them. He was also curious how, and why, this creature had saved him from his shipwreck. As he regained his bearings, he began to feel his head fog up, as it had done during his dream. He looked at his hands to see a faint pink tinted aura around him for a brief moment, followed by a sudden flash of pink light from the pink orb.

"Follow me." The orb itself seemed to be the source of this command, with the same voice as the one he heard in the dream. As he rose to his feet, he chose to follow the orb deeper into the cave, uttering to himself: "Well, I guess it's better then drowning."


	2. Chapter 1

As the man progressed through the cave, he began to notice the pink light from deeper within the cave growing brighter. After a few minutes of walking, he saw the new source of both the light and, apparantly, the orb. The creature was small in stature, barely over a foot in height, and seemed to have a catlike form. It was enclosed in a pink, bubble like structure, and seemed to be straining, as if lifting a heavy object. Suddenly, the pink orb vanished and the young man heard the familiar voice again. "Hello. What is your name?" As he heard the voice, the creature opened its eyes and faced the young man.

"My name is William." His answered warily, and adopted a cautious posture as he approached the creature. Suddenly, as he came close to the bubble surrounding it, the creature opened its eyes wide and blew William back a few inches. He fell roughly onto his back, sending a thud echoing throughout the cave walls. William heard the voice again, this time in a more panicked tone. "Stay away!" William rose to his feet to see the creature had gone back to straining with effort and, after consideration, chose to follow the creatures instructions. He did, however, ask the creature a question. "What are you?"

After waiting for a few seconds, the creature eased slightly and resumed observing William. He felt a strange sensation as a pink light enveloped him and the creature looked him over. He felt a strange feeling of fuzziness in his head, growing more and more potent as the process continued. After nearly a minute, the light disappeared and the bubble dissipated. He spent a few moments regaining his bearings as his head began to clear. He then heard the voice again. "I'm Mew. I am a Pokemon. I have been talking to you in your head since before you woke up."

William tensed up upon hearing that the creature was a Pokemon, and Mew responded in kind. However, upon seeing Mew's bubble return and a strange pink flame begin to surround it, William backed up and relaxed somewhat. Mew waited a few more seconds before it too relaxed, removing the pink flames and bubble and returning to a more peaceful posture. After another few seconds of silence, William asked Mew another question. "Why did you save me?"

Mew opened its eyes a little in surprise before responding. "Why are you asking? I'd think you'd be happy." William opened his mouth to respond, before Mew cut him off with snickering. "Oh, settle down. I saved you because I need help." William was taken aback by Mew's sudden change in demeanor, as well as by its reasoning. "Why do you need my help? To get out of the cave?" Mew seemed to start snickering again, before it responded. "Nope. Actually, I'll be doing most of the work to get out of the cave." William looked incredulous at Mew's implication, but it continued speaking. "I'm going to need your help _after _we get out of the cave."

"You seem remarkably different then when you first spoke to me." William said with some confusion. Mew simply shrugged before responding. "What do you mean?" Mew asked quizzically. William paused for a moment. "You seem much less... dire, then you were at first." Mew looked disinterested for a moment, observing the cave around them, before turning around to face William again, this time looking both indignant and somewhat sad. "Well, I was talking about the _end of the world. _Of course I'm going to sound a bit serious."

William flinched slightly at Mew's response. "I'm sorry." He said in a scolded tone of voice while looking down. He began to scratch the back of his head as Mew tilted its head to the side and moved somewhat closer to him. "Don't be so sad. You didn't do it, after all." Mew said in a neutral tone. Before William could respond, they heard a strange cry from nearby. Turning to face it, they saw a small, rat-like creature running swiftly at them. William and Mew both quickly recognized it as a Rattata. The Rattata leapt at William before either he or Mew could react, and in response he pushed out with his arm to deflect the attack. The Rattata chomped down on William's exposed arm, latching onto the limb with its teeth. William yelled in pain, before proceeding to try and remove the Rattata from his arm by flailing it through the air. Mew responded by psychically grabbing the top portion of the Rattata's skull and wrenching it back and down, towards its rear. Holding the agitated, feral Rattata up, Mew proceeded to slam it into the ground, face-first, several times until it was unconscious.

After the Rattata was incapacitated, both William and Mew drew their attention to his bleeding, injured arm. William hissed as he examined the injured limb with his other hand. Mew looked the injury over by floating over William's shoulder. William then heard a strange, gurgling sound from Mew, and then turned around to see it spit up some unusually small eggs that seemed to break open, pre-cooked and steaming, upon impacting the ground. Mew gestured to William towards the eggs with its head. William looked incredulously at Mew for a moment before speaking. "What?" William inquired. Mew looked annoyed at William before answering. "Eat the eggs. They'll heal your arm." William faced and pointed at the eggs and looked even more confused, before looking back up at Mew with a defiant scowl, preparing to respond. Mew glared at him for a moment before cutting him off. "Eat the eggs." Mew dictated with a finger pointed at William.

William glowered for a moment, before sitting down and complying with Mew's command and eating the eggs. As he ate the eggs, he felt his injured arm regain it's strength, and upon examining it he noticed that the wounds had already sealed. "How did you do that?" William asked as he looked up at Mew. Mew chuckled slightly, before floating closer to the ground. "It is one of my mo-er... techniques. It used to be called Softboiled." William looked thoughtful for a moment after eating the rest of the eggs Mew provided him with. Mew rested on the cave floor and looked up at William. In response, William looked down at Mew, before a thought came to his mind. "Why were you straining when I walked in?" Mew looked surprised at the question for a second, then replied. "I was protecting the cave. The Pokemon on this island are angry and hostile." William looked frightened as the implications set in, however Mew took notice, and addressed his concern. "The Pokemon seemed to have left, with the exception of that Rattata." This response set William at ease, however he then raised another of his concerns. "How are we going to leave?" He asked. Mew snorted as it held back laughter, then responded in a slightly teasing tone. "Teleportation, of course." William looked confused and slightly insulted for a moment, before Mew floated off the ground and through the air, before coming to rest on William's shoulder. As he raised his opposite hand and opened his mouth to object, he felt strangely weightless for an instant before everything seemed to disappear in a flash.

William's senses were dulled over the transition, but when they returned the only familiar sight was Mew, floating a few feet in front of his face. The environment was completely different, with fields of grass and trees replacing the cave structure, and above him was a clear blue sky and sunlight. He vaguely recognized his surroundings, before remembering the name of the region. "This is just outside Viridian City, I think." He then looked around to confirm, and saw a damaged, abandoned town to his right, and a larger, somewhat better maintained city to his left. Mew confirmed his assumption. "Mm-hmm. This used to be the road between Pallet Town and Viridian City." Mew said, somewhat wistfully.

William looked rather confused at Mew when it said the name Pallet Town, but as he prepared to question Mew, it interrupted him. "Let's go there," Mew said, motioning toward the ruins of Pallet Town. "maybe we could find some things in there." William prepared to object, but was silenced when Mew turned back to face him with a frustrated glare. "All right, then." William said instead. His response eased Mew somewhat, and they began to move towards the ruined Pallet Town. William walked towards Pallet Town in a wary posture, while Mew casually floated over his left shoulder. After moving like this for a few quiet moments, William spoke to Mew. "What did you need my help with?" William asked. Mew stopped and looked back over at William in confusion for a moment. In response, William also stopped walking and said again, "What did you need my help with?" Mew still looked confused for a moment, prompting William to respond, "You said you were going to need my help when we got out of the cave." Mew's expression changed from one of confusion to one of amusement, before it simply continued floating toward Pallet Town. When William prepared to raise the question again, Mew looked over its shoulder and said, "I'll tell you after we're done in the town." William looked agitated at the cryptic response, but still followed Mew towards Pallet Town.

The rest of the journey towards Pallet Town passed without incident, as they arrived after slightly less then an hour of travel. Coming into the town, they observed their surroundings before progressing further. None of the buildings in the town were well kept, and all of them were in some form of disrepair. Many of the houses that would have had residents living in them were completely ruined, with obvious structural damage that was in many cases severe enough to render them dangerous to a careless explorer. The only major man-made landmark in the town was the laboratory in the south-eastern region, which, like much of the rest of the southern end of town had suffered extensive water damage, rendering the wood damp and weak in several areas, in addition to the wear over decades of abandonment. Mew and William were the only inhabitants in the town at this time, with the closest humans inhabiting Viridian City and the nearest Pokémon being far out into the ocean to the south or the forests surrounding the east and west ends of town. Despite the bleak appearance of the town itself, the natural environment in and surrounding the town were in much better order, as despite some wildfires and collateral damage the forests looked to be fairly healthy and the grasslands in and to the north of Pallet were, despite consumption by native Pokémon, relatively undamaged.

After taking some time to ensure that there were no other inhabitants in the town, William turned to Mew and asked, "Why did we come here?" Mew turned to look at William and paused for a moment, before gesturing towards the laboratory and floating in that direction. William sighed impatiently, but followed Mew. After reaching their destination, William and Mew both stopped what used to be the front entrance, which had now been completely covered in broken wood. In front of it was a sign that had been knocked down and heavily damaged by both water and wear. Looking down at the sign, William noticed that the sign had been almost completely wiped of writing over the years. Mew called out from behind him. "It used to say, 'Professor Oak's Lab', back before the town was abandoned." Mew said. William turned to face Mew, but before he could respond, Mew began to glow pink. Looking back towards the entrance, he noticed that some of the wood blocking the way began to glow pink as well, before floating out from the entrance and being set down on the ground to their right.

After Mew cleared the entranceway, it floated into the laboratory. William crossed his arms in irritation, but followed Mew through the entrance. The interior of the laboratory showed severe water damage to the flooring, as well as cracks and other damages that occurred over years without maintenance. The furnishings were also damaged, with tables and chairs missing pieces, including some that had parts broken off and laying around on the ground. Despite the lack of cleaning, there was very little dust, although there was a great deal of mold and dirt that had accumulated. Several of the walls had holes in them, including some that resembled claw, tooth and talon marks. In the center of the lab there was a small divide between the front portion of the lab, which housed several bookshelves, and the back, which housed a small collection of books but also held the computers and devices of the lab. Sequestered in the back, in the leftmost corner, was a computer that, unlike the rest of the laboratory, had been maintained relatively well, and remained operational. Mew floated through the lab, ignoring the damaged shelves and books that had been rendered useless due to lack of care, and went directly for the computer as William followed. Mew looked back toward William and gestured toward the computer.

"What do you need?" William asked. Mew paused for a moment, looking slightly uneasy, as it thought of how to best word its response. "I need your help with the computer." William looked skeptical for a moment, before walking over to the computer. He looked toward the chair that corresponded to the computer desk, but it was too badly damaged to hold any significant weight. Sighing, he knelt down and began to operate the computer. However, he was almost immediately asked for a password. "REDGREEN", Mew interjected. William looked at Mew in agitation, musing, "You seem to know this better then I do." Mew looked guilty for a moment, before clarifying. "This is an old research computer, from before Year Zero. I was hoping you could help me find out a few things about Year Zero." William looked somewhat surprised with how forthcoming Mew was, but set it aside to continue on the computer. William input the password and was brought to a screen of various notes, with various pictures of Pokémon anatomy and assorted wave models, detailing something about how Pokémon were becoming more feral.

"This Rattata is the same as all the others. It cannot be around any other Pokémon or people without going completely crazed, attacking randomly, seemingly intending to harm or even kill anyone who is around it. It seems to have something to do with an external influence having a disastrous effect on the brain waves of all Pokémon who are exposed to it. I've also been receiving reports that none of the radio stations are operating correctly, and that they are all broadcasting nonsense. I wonder if the two events are related? I have recorded some of the radio static, and plan to compare it with the brain waves of this Rattata tomorrow."

"That was the last of the notes in the computer.", William commented. Mew seemed to be looking for something next to the computer, before triumphantly raising what appeared to by a large set of electrodes into the air. William stared at them, puzzled for a moment, before Mew explained. "The professor was never able to connect the two together, however the radio waves are still in the computer." William looked at Mew with the same puzzled expression. "All Pokémon were affected. If we can measure my brain waves and compare the two, we can confirm that whatever messed up the radio stations did the same to Pokémon." William looked slightly alarmed for a moment, but quickly shook his hood and simply looked quizzically at Mew again. "But why would you need to confirm that if you are already sure the two are connected?" William asked. Mew simply stated, "I'm not." Mew then began to apply the electrodes to its head, while also directing William. "You will need to operate the computer while I have these on. I cannot use my psychic powers or the waves will be inaccurate." William nodded, then directed his attention to the computer screen. As Mew plugged the electrodes into the computer, a window appeared with another wave-like pattern. After a few moments in which the pattern was jagged and random, it began to settle into a rhythm, becoming increasingly similar to that of the radio pattern the professor had recorded. "They look like they are the same pattern." William called out to Mew. Mew began to float up, at which time its brain waves once again became odd and disjointed. After Mew removed all of the electrodes and threw them to the side, William asked, "So why are you not feral like the others?" Mew sighed, before facing William and responding, "Some of the more powerful Psychic-type Pokémon could resist the effects, but almost all other Pokémon became mindlessly aggressive."

William and Mew exited the laboratory after obtaining the knowledge that the radio wave signal and the brain wave disruption were from the same source. William turned to face Mew and stopped. "Is that all you needed help with?" William asked. Mew stopped and turned to face William, looking somewhat surprised. "Nope. I am going to need your help getting rid of that signal." William's eyes became wide and his jaw nearly fell agape in response, before he responded in a stunned tone, "You- my- How? Do you even know where it is coming from?" Mew smiled slightly, before musing, "Nope. I guess I'll need a lot more help, then." The two looked at each other for a moment, before William eventually broke the silence. "How long is this going to take?" Mew simply pointedly observed the surroundings in response to the question. After a long glare from William, the Pokémon eventually replied. "This is going to take a long time. That's all I'm going to say because that's all I know." William seethed with frustration for a moment, which Mew met by staring him down for a moment. "Well? Do you want to help me or not?" William looked even more angry then before, but after a moment's thought finally sighed and relented. "Fine. I'll help." Mew looked incredibly relieved at the answer, floating away from William while sighing. They began to journey out of Pallet Town towards Route 1 when William spoke. "Where are we heading next?" He asked. "Viridian City." Mew responded hopefully and slightly excitedly. William paused in thought for a moment, before voicing a concern. "Viridian City is a heavily populated city." Mew simply looked confused as William thought aloud. "Well, Pokémon aren't well liked in most populated regions." Mew continued looking at William with a puzzled expression as he elaborated. "You probably would draw a lot of attention." Before they could continue their discussion, a small group of men approached them.

This group had six men, all of whom were gruff, unshaven and worn down, as if they had been living off the streets for at least a few months. Along with their ragged appearance was a suit of clothes, all plain black, including damaged and torn hats, bearing a large R logo in the center of their shirts. In their arms were various armaments, including two with large white rifles with oversized, open barrels, three men armed with what appeared to be plated handguns, and one armed only with a gauntlet that appeared to have an electronic display on the back of the hand. The man with the gauntlet shouted at William and Mew. "Hold up! What are you two doing wandering way out here?" Both Mew and William met the man and his group with icy glares. Mew and William paused for a moment, as a pink glow very quickly appeared and just as swiftly vanished over each of the men in turn. After completing this process, Mew communicated telepathically to William, "We are going to have to fight these men; don't let any of them convince you otherwise." After issuing it's warning to William, Mew floated in front of William and shouted at the group, particularly singling out the leader. "Hear me, Team Rocket! I am the ancient Pokémon Mew! I alone can beat you all in mere moments! Run away now, or be utterly defeated!" The group of men began to explode into uproarious laughter and guffaws in response to the declaration. As the Team Rocket men continued their mockery of Mew, it issued instructions to William telepathically. "You have no armor or equipment with you, so you can't help me against these guys. When the fighting starts, find cover. I should be able to take them out pretty fast, but I don't want to kill them, so I can't be sure. Only engage someone if you can catch them up close and only if they don't have the Technical Gauntlet. Understood?" William thought of his answer before attempting to verbally respond, but Mew cut him off with a telepathic acknowledgement, "Good enough."

As the Rockets boisterous response to Mew's command began to wear out, the ground beneath both them and William began to shake. As all seven of them began to look around at the ground in confusion, Mew shouted at William, "Now!" In response, William noticed that only a specific patch of land was quaking, and thus ran for a tree that seemed to be on more stable ground. When William got into safe cover, Mew telekinetically lifted up a patch of ground large enough to encompass all six of the Rockets and carried it up several feet into the air. Just then, the commander of the Rocket men commanded his group to fire on Mew. At that instant, Mew let go of it's hold on the patch of land, sending it crashing into the hole it used to occupy, while the Rockets fell a small distance behind. Some of them set off loose rounds out of their weapons, which Mew caught telekinetically and then dropped harmlessly onto the ground. While the Rockets regained their bearings, Mew floated toward the leader and, in the blink of an eye, grabbed him by his shirt and hurled him into the distance towards a clearing. As the Rockets rose to their feet and readied their weapons, Mew threw two pairs of men into each other hard enough to send out an audible crash throughout the fields. It then floated toward the last Rocket and disabled him by tackling his stomach at a high speed. Mew then picked up the five group members and laid them down out of sight. However, as it finished hiding the last Rocket, the Rocket Leader approached Mew. As he did this, the display on his gauntlet read "Light Screen". At that moment, a small bubble of blue light covered him. Mew then found that he could not lift him telekinetically, and this small pause gave him time for his gauntlets to then display a new command, "Guillotine", followed by the man charging Mew with his arms pulled back. Mew swiftly flew out of the way and into the air as he slammed his arms together, but before Mew could hurl anything towards the man, his display changed again to read "Reflect". Mew growled in frustration as the gauntlet projected a shield in front of the man's hand in addition to the shielding around his body. However, upon examining the man's defenses, Mew's scowl turned into a smirk as it lifted the ground the man was standing on up into the air. The man reacted by looking down at the patch of land now levitating in midair, however before he could take any further action the chunk of dirt and grass hurled into the air at an incredible speed, launching him far enough into the air to render his subsequent scream barely audible. As he began to fall back towards the ground, a pink bubble appeared directly in his path, cushioning his fall and bouncing him a few inches into the air, where he fell, shaken but unharmed, onto the ground. With his defenses disabled, Mew appeared in front of him in an instant and spun around, lashing it's tail into his jaw with enough force to knock him unconscious. With all of the Rockets disabled, Mew called William out from hiding. William came out from the tree, looking around at the results of the battle.

After they had confirmed that all of the Rockets had been disabled, Mew and William came to the Rocket with the Technical Gauntlet. William commented, "I'm surprised they had one of these with them. They are rather valuable." Mew chuckled lightly and shrugged, simply saying, "Our good luck, I suppose." William looked puzzled towards Mew for a moment, before figuring out what Mew had meant. After a moment of realization, he began to remove the Technical Gauntlet from the unconscious Rocket and equip it on his own arm. After a moment, the display read "New user; please enter password." Mew rolled it's eyes, then began to glow pink for a moment, while at the same time the Rocket's head also began to glow. "S-A-K-A-K-I", Mew said aloud. As Mew said the letters, the display on the Gauntlet began to show each letter, before finally showing, "Password accepted." After that, the display went blank, as William felt a sudden discomfort in his arm. After a moment, Mew told William, "Try and perform a move. Don't think about it; just try to... let's say, project a barrier in front of you." William followed Mew's instructions and, after a moment, the display on the Technical Gauntlet read, "Reflect". Just as it did so, a blue square of light shot out from the Gauntlet in front of William. Mew quickly dodged out of the way, and, fighting through giggles, attempted to admonish William, "Hey! Watch where you aim those!" After getting that out, Mew simply burst into laughing, to which William responded with a confused stare. After Mew finished, it floated back over to William, who simply said, "What was that all about?" Mew just replied, "I thought it was funny." William looked completely at a loss, before simply shaking his head. "Now," he said, "we were considering travelling to Viridian." Mew nodded as William spoke. "Well, you might have to stay-" Mew cut him off with a finger before he could finish. "I'm not _staying _anywhere. I'm going to Viridian." Mew glared at William, with it's glare intensifying as William tried to speak up again. Finally, William exclaimed in agitation, "Well, you can't enter a heavily populated area looking like a Pokémon. You'll cause a panic!" Mew continued glaring at William, before finally whining, "Oh, fine." William looked relieved for a moment, before turning around to head to Viridian City, he heard a strange noise, followed by a voice that sounded similar to Mew's, but somehow less clear, saying "We'll both travel on foot then." William turned around, expecting to see Mew, however was completely surprised by what was now behind him.

What appeared to be a young woman, clad in a bright blue ankle-length dress, with plain blue shoes and shoulder-length pink hair now stood where Mew was floating just a moment before. It smiled, saying "Well, I don't have to _look _like a Pokémon," it said, "but I can still come along." William looked stunned for a moment, before attempting to piece everything together. "So, you're... Mew?" William said. It simply nodded emphatically to William while smiling. "How-" William could not finish his sentence before Mew interrupted him. "I can Transform. Looking like a human isn't something I always like doing, but if I have to, then I have to." William nodded in acknowledgement before walking north toward Viridian City as Mew followed close behind.


End file.
